£37k to £0 in a (determined to make them wonderful) few years!

Ladybird.

Managed to find several things to ebay, not sure I'll find the time to put them on today though. Have a busy day trying to get the house looking presentable before the landlord comes around to do a bit of maintenance. Still so many unpacked boxes lining the walls of upstairs bedrooms and far far too much stuff now we are living in a much smaller house! Did a big tip run yesterday, there is something very satisfying about chucking out stuff!

Didn't manage to get my weekly Lidl shop done at the weekend and won't get the chance today, so my husband and I have decided to have a VERY frugal week and just live on what we have in the cupboards and freezer as far as possible! Our very own little grocery challenge!

Had tuna sweetcorn pasta last night, always a favourite with the kids. Have a fair bit of pasta left in, tins of soup, enough frozen leftover chilli for us all one night, frozen veg, rice, chick peas, butter beans, onions, and a tonne of herbs/spices/sauces so I'm sure I can make it stretch until the weekend! I'm thinking a vegetarian biryani type rice would be easy enough to make, and there is always good old pasta and pesto! Might need to bake some bread, we have just run out but there's flour and yeast in the cupboards

If we manage this week I might make 'frugal cupboard week' a monthly thing. Have also been thinking about alternating super-cheap food days with 'normal' ones. We all actually really enjoy simple meals like pasta or jacket potatoes so why not eat more of them?

Still no word on the CC, think it is tomorrow they are supposed to be calling back.

Best of luck with the car boot GL! Before we moved we said over and over that we were going to do one but just never got round to it!

Have a lovely day everyone, beautifully autumnal out there today :j

[Deleted User]

I am going to try alternating mega cheap meal days with normal eating days.

Not sure where the idea came that we must have good meat each night, chicken breasts for stir-fry, casseroles, curries etc. My parents scrimped when I was young and egg and chips or beans on toast was the norm each night- and we weren't malnourished. Again thinks its the symptom of our lives today and pretty good advertising!

Look forward to hearing how you do with it!

I totally agree, its so liberating clearing all that stuff you dont need- our house is quite bare now and its lovely.

GLx

Ladybird.

I did think of you GL as I was chucking it all in the car, you would have been proud of my ruthlessness!

TOTALLY agree about the expensive meat every night, was thinking the exact same thing yesterday. Chicken breasts, steak, fresh king prawns, salmon... all serious special treats now whereas before our LBM they were staples!

Our Sunday roast is our one big food treat of the week, but luckily we seem to be able to stretch the joint or chicken quite far now so it probably isn't too uneconomical a meal really

Ladybird.

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

Husband has had text message from Barclaycard saying they have amended the interest rate back on the CC! Yeah! Kind of hoping they have backdated it too but shall wait for the account to update (takes 5 days apparently) before we push our luck with them :D Phew! That saves us about £60pm in interest at the moment so a big relief!
:beer:

please-let-me-be-lucky

Great news about the credit card. Well done Xx

Ladybird.

Thanks PLMBL!

Impressed with Barclaycard, just looked online and they have already refunded all the interest they charged and refunded the late payment charge too. Happy customer

Scuff

Wow Ladybird that's really good with the card, I must be honest when I read your predicament in the beginning I was doubtful they'd do anything to help!:T

[Deleted User]

So pleased for you, it's great news! One less stress eh?

GLx

Ladybird.

Have a real spring in my step today, feeling cheery and positive :j

Planning some nice free/cheap half term activities to do with the children...

• Nice muddy long dog walks
• Collecting autumn leaves and creating some kind of collage or some other arty type thing
• Buy a big pumpkin to carve and cook with... need to find some fun recipes
• Have a look for local things that might be on, sure there must be some Halloween themed stuff organised somewhere!

The pile of ebayable things is growing bigger, if I put a few on today they'll end in time to hopefully contribute towards my October overpayment target so perhaps I'll be spurred on to get them listed.

I was pleasantly surprised about the CC thing too Scuff. I hoped we would get it back in the end but thought it would take quite a bit of complaining and escalating. Fair play to Barclaycard

ETS: 2 more items listed on ebay on 5 day auctions, hoping they'll raise enough to let me meet the rest of my October target!

[Deleted User]

The half-term activities sound great! I've got Weds off with DS so we planning on some spooky activities, will invite a few of his friends over.

Fingers crossed eBay sales will help you meet your target.

Any news on renting your house yet?